


Why Me?

by Kate_Shepard



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Self-Doubt, Shakarian - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 16:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6862309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Shepard/pseuds/Kate_Shepard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very, very short one-shot in which Shepard pours out her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Me?

"Why me?" 

The question, relayed to her through the glass of her display case, took her off-guard. She thought she was the one who felt it. On Omega, when she met Nyreen Kandros, the invasive thought that had sunk its teeth into her had looked a lot like that. _She's perfect for him. Beautiful face, beautiful voice, beautiful spirit. This is who he should be with. This is the one that was meant for him. This is the woman who could share his meals, live on his homeworld, bear his children, be accepted into his clan, be the partner that he deserves. Why would he settle for me when there are women like this who are so much closer to what he needs?_ Shepard could read Garrus easier than she could a battlefield. She knew his face, his body language, his voice, better than she knew her own. He'd made jokes before but she had somehow missed the seriousness behind it. She'd been so concerned with being what he needed that she had neglected to ensure that he knew that he was already exactly what she needed.

He looked up at her from the couch where he sat with elbows propped on bent knees covered with the stretchy fabric of the pants he wore when he felt safe enough to eschew armor. The glow of the fish tank picked up the cobalt of his colony markings and made the silver of his plates shine. His blue eyes held a world of doubt more suited to the broken Archangel she'd rescued on Omega than the man who rubbed elbows with councilors and Primarchs and had generals saluting him without hesitation. It reminded her of their first night together when the Omega 4 relay loomed in their near future and the prospect of their impending death had weighed heavily on their minds like a premature shroud. He held himself still and braced as though expecting a blow and she cocked her head.

"Do you really need to ask that, Garrus?" she asked him, wondering if she truly had failed to show him just how vital he was to her.

"Yes," he said. "You could have anyone in the galaxy. Why me?"

Her face softened and she rose to make her way down the steps leading into the cabin proper. He tracked her with predatory eyes, his visor giving him the familiar readout on her biometrics, and waited for her response. She perched on the edge of the coffee table with her knees inside of his and leaned forward to trace the patchwork of scar tissue that covered his face, neck, and chest. She knew that he was self-conscious about them but she truly didn't think that they detracted from his appearance at all. The only reason she disliked them was the reminder of his pain. Now, however, they were a visible sign of just how far he'd come. 

She said, "When I woke up on that table with Miranda's voice echoing around the room, the first thought I had was to wonder where you were. You have been my right hand, my confidante, my best friend from the very beginning. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were going to be important to me. I had no idea just how true that was. I wanted you even during the mission against Saren but you never looked at me as anything more than a mentor and friend. Then I found you on Omega and the only thing that mattered was finding a way to put you back together again. Even then, you were right behind me despite what you were going through. You always are. You are my rock. You are order in the entropy, peace in the maelstrom, the one thing of which I am certain in all of this. You are everything to me, Garrus, and I can't imagine my life without you. I don't want to. I love you. That's why."


End file.
